There can be little doubt as to the topic that was front and centre of most everyone’s minds over the past year. The coronavirus pandemic cast a lengthy shadow and dominated all walks of life in ways unthinkable in a pre-Covid world.
Governments around the globe implemented various initiatives in attempts to mitigate its effects, with many decision-making processes elevated from the personal to the national level. And all this came at a tremendous financial cost, leading to fundraising on an unprecedented scale as support packages were put in place.
From sovereigns, through supranationals, to agencies, the entire public sector was consumed by the task, although all the while they could not afford to lose sight of the fact that their pre-existing day-to-day responsibilities still had to be addressed.
But rather than becoming overwhelmed, for the most part they displayed the propensity to implement the measures required to navigate their way through a landscape scarred by the pandemic. And now there are signs that a path out of the crisis might just be opening up, it will be back to business, if not as normal, then as the new normal.
Lessons will have been learned, new structures adopted and approaches modified. Nothing feeds innovation quite as much as necessity, and the most extreme of circumstances will doubtless have revealed some hitherto unexplored avenues.
To see the digital version of this report, please click here
To purchase printed copies or a PDF of this report, please email gloria.balbastro@lseg.com
